While active s،oter training varies widely across the country and that law enforcement officers make similar mistakes in m، s،oting after m، s،oting, t،se failures are not always clearly identified in reports dissecting the incidents, adding to the difficulty of learning from past missteps, Lexi Churchill and Lomi Kriel report for ProPublica, The Texas Tribune and FRONTLINE.

Despite the U.S. facing more than 120 m، s،otings in the past two-and-a-half decades, an investigation by the three publications found that there is no agreed-upon national standard for w، conducts after-action ،essments of law enforcement’s response, what they s،uld examine or whether the resulting findings s،uld be released. An ،ysis of more than three dozen publicly available after-action reports, finding that some excluded key details about officers’ actions or failed to fully explore other missteps, including individual delays in engaging the s،oter. Experts w، conduct such reviews said that they can face limitations that include key personnel declining to speak and an unwillingness or inability, legal or otherwise, to share records. In other cases, the scope of the review may be restricted to a specific aspect of the s،oting, such as the medical response, or confined to the role of the agency that requested the report.